Region 2-1A: Graceville pressure too much for South Walton
GRACEVILLE — Diving after loose balls on the floor. Crashing into the stands to deflect a pass. Attacking the boards for putbacks.
It took all that and more for Graceville to secure a victory Tuesday night.
Graceville pressured South Walton into an up-tempo style that favored the host Tigers, and Graceville advanced to the Region 2-1A finals with a 54-50 home victory.
The Tigers, 16-12, will host the West Gadsden-Cottondale survivor in the regional finals at 7 p.m. on Saturday. The winner of that game will advance to the Class 1A state semifinals in Lakeland.
“We like to speed people up and make them play at a speed they don’t like,” Graceville coach Matt Anderson said. “We like them to take shots they don’t normally don’t want to take. It’s taken a long time, but the last two or three weeks our players have started to do that pretty well.”
Trailing by a point at halftime, South Walton looked like it was on the verge of taking control with a 6-0 run to open the third quarter that seized a 28-23 lead with Shafer Martin’s layin. The Seahawks quickly lost their grasp on that lead, however, as Graceville’s full-court press quickened the pace and resulted in South Walton turnovers.
Five Graceville players scored during a 10-0 run that helped the Tigers regain the lead 33-28. Devonte Merritt capped the spurt with a steal and a layin on the opposite end with 3:15 left in the quarter.
The Seahawks trimmed their deficit to three points several times, but Graceville always had an answer via points off turnovers. Rasheed Campbell’s three-point play gave the Tigers an insurmountable 50-40 lead with 4:08 left to play.
Martin, a skilled 6-foot-5 senior, was a tough matchup individually, but the Tigers didn’t shy away from driving the lane. Martin picked up a costly third foul in the first half, and that left South Walton vulnerable to the Tigers’ aggressive drives to the basket.
“We’re usually battling somebody who’s bigger than we are,” Anderson said. “He’s a strong kid, a nice player. We wanted to take it at him and get him out of the game. We did a nice job of that.”
Diquan Johnson and Marquis White tossed in 12 points each for the Tigers and Merritt contributed with 10.
Edward Howard tried his best to rally the Seahawks with 10 of his game-high 15 points in the fourth quarter. Martin added 13 points.
Graceville had a slim 23-22 edge at halftime, securing the lead for the first time on Diquan Johnson’s layin with seven seconds left in the half. Johnson and Merritt scored six points apiece in the first half for the Tigers.
- SOUTH WALTON (50) — Palmer 6, Dixon 7, Howard 15, Waldrop 6, Gundrum 3, Martin 13.
- GRACEVILLE (54) — Franklin 4, M. Johnson 3, Campbell 5, D. Johnson 12, Britt 4, Merritt 10, Barner 4, White 12.
- South Walton 10 12 12 16 — 50
- Graceville 9 14 18 13 — 54
